Chandigarh, April 4
Advocate NK Nanda retained the post of president of the Chandigarh District Bar Association (DBA) by defeating advocate MS Jindiala by a huge margin of 633 votes. While Nanda polled 956 votes, Jindiala got just 323 votes in his kitty.

Manijt Singh Dhiman got 776 votes to become the secretary of the bar defeating his rival Harish (463 votes). The post of joint secretary was bagged by Kiranjit Kaur who polled 775 votes. Advocate Neeraj Hans became the treasurer of the DBA.

The district courts complex had been abuzz with activity since morning when the polling started at 9.30 am. The candidates’ supporters camped outside the polling booths and handed over pamphlets to the voters.

A few tense moments were reported during the elections, but no untoward incident occurred.

CAT elections

The annual election for 2012-2013 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh, also took place today.

Advocate DR Sharma was declared the winner to the post of the president with 38 votes compared to 24 votes begged by his rival Rohit Seth. Jyoti Chaudhary became the secretary of the CAT Bar by defeating JR Syal with a margin of eight votes. She polled 35 votes and Syal bagged only 27 votes.

Dharinder Shukla was unanimously elected vice-president. Pankaj Mohan Kansal and Pawan Gaur were declared the winners unopposed as joint secretaries. Suresh Verma was elected treasurer of the CAT BAR.

Chandigarh, April 4
The legal fraternity had been talking about electoral wave being in favour of advocate Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal for a long time. But his re-election to the post of President of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association by a margin of around 185 votes took everyone by surprise late this evening. Dhaliwal polled 1,418 votes while
his nearest rival advocate Krishan S Dhadwal secured 1,233 votes.

As the results came pouring, advocates surrounded Dhaliwal. A continuous stream of advocates could be seen congratulating the president, as he expressed his gratitude to them.

The results were out at about 9.15 pm. Sapan Dhir emerged victorious to the post of vice-president of the association with 1,048 votes. He defeated Amarjit Kaur Khurana, who polled 750 votes.

Ranjivan Singh was declared elected to the post of secretary polling 1,159 votes.

Advocate Prabjot Kaur was elected as joint secretary with 1,733 votes. Vikrant Pamboo with 1,450 votes was declared victorious to treasurer’s post.

In all, 2,699 votes out of a total of 3,452 were polled. Six votes were declared invalid.

Chandigarh, April 4
The CBI Court today framed charges of corruption against a UT police Sub-inspector Sakatar Singh, his wife Baljinder Kaur and son Baldeep Singh who were arrested last year while demanding bribe. The trial will now begin on the next date of hearing on May 7 when evidence will be recorded in the court.

The three were arrested on May 29, 2011, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from Ranjeet Singh who was booked in a case of illegal confinement and rape at the Manimajra police station.

Ranjeet Singh had been arrested and released on a regular bail and a car (CH-18T-5129) was impounded from his house. The bribe was being accepted on the pretext of helping Ranjeet Singh come out clean.

Panchkula, April 4
The local police seized a truck containing 600 liquor bottles to be smuggled to Uttar Pradesh, near the Morni T-Point on Monday night.

The police said after receiving a tip off, the police team led by the ASI Surjit Singh laid a checkpoint at the T-intersection. As the truck reached the checkpoint, the police directed its driver to stop. After searching the truck, the police recovered 600 bottles of liquor. The driver told the police that the consignment was being taken to Uttar Pradesh.

Mohali, April 4
The district police has booked three persons for allegedly abducting a youth and murder him.

The accused have been identified as Naib Khan, a resident of Gadhana, Kanwaljit Singh and Pawan Kumar. The police said in a complaint Darshan Singh had alleged that the accused had taken Rs 2 lakh fraudulently from his son on the pretext of giving job in police department.

“On March 27, the accused had abducted my son when he went to them to take my money,” alleged Darshan Singh.

A case under Sections of the IPC has been registered at Sohana police station.

Chandigarh, April 4
Prompt action by the police control room (PCR) vehicle helped the police nab five persons, who robbed a person last night. The accused were arrested minutes after they robbed a resident of Himachal Pradesh of his cash and belongings.

Officials seated in the PCR made the complainant sit in the PCR van and began a search for the accused, who were then spotted nearby and arrested.

The incident occurred last night at about 12.30 am when Sangharsh Thakur, a resident of Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh (HP), was going on foot towards the bus stand. When he reached the Madhya Marg, Sector 28, a person called him and asked where he was going. When he proceeded towards him, in the meantime, four other boys came there and one of them put a knife on his neck, while other showed him silver grip punch and other two snatched his purse, which contained cash Rs 900, an ATM card and a mobile phone. They also threatened him with dire consequences if he informed the incident to the police.

When the complainant reached the transport light point, he found a police control room vehicle.

Police officials, namely head constable Varinder Singh, constable Ankit Kumar and home guard volunteer Gurdev Singh, stationed were seated in the vehicle. The police officials asked him to sit in the vehicle and started to search for the accused. He identified one accused sitting near a roundabout, who snatched his purse.

The police apprehended him and he disclosed his name as Harsh Vardhan, a resident of Bapu Dham Colony.

During further interrogation, he disclosed the names of his accomplice as Mohammadd Afzal, Amit Kumar, alias Rinku, Mushtaq Ali and Dharamjit, alias Monu.

All accused have been arrested and a knife, grip punch used in the crime and cash Rs 900, mobile phone robbed from the complainant have been recovered.

The RTI application sought information on the charges of the high-tech gym. In reply to the RTI, the department said the charges are Rs 700 and Rs 500 for a period of six months for non-sports persons.

As per the provided information, one has to pay Rs 700 for the 7 to 8 am and 6 to 7 pm shifts. One may pay Rs 500 for if he or she opts for 8 to 10 am and 4 to 6 pm shifts.

In reality, however, the department charges Rs 2,100 for a period of three months only. This amount is same for both the morning and evening shifts.

Joint director of sports said the officials of the department have made a mistake.

He said one has to pay Rs 700 per month, as mentioned in reply to the RTI, if he or she visits the gym everyday for an hour. The official has put the above said amount against six months by mistake.

Later, when asked about the department charging a total amount of Rs 2,100 for using the gym for three months, he said, “One can pay the total amount for six months or for three months, as per their wish. As per three month the total amount becomes the same depend upon the timing adopted by the member,” said JDS Sidhu, joint director sports.

Sources said the department charges an advance payment of three months from the new members.

Moreover, the members have to pay the money even if he or she does not use the gym in between his membership period in order to continue as a member.

“The members have to pay even if they are not using the gym to continue the membership. For example, after three months if one skips a month and wants to join again in the fifth month, the member has to submit money for the fifth month as well. This issue has been taken up in several meetings,” said an employee, on the basis of anonymity.

Faulty information

Joint director of sports acknowledges that the information given in reply to the RTI was faulty.

He said the officials of the department have made a mistake.

He said one has to pay Rs 700 per month, as mentioned in reply to the RTI, if he or she visits the gym everyday for an hour. The official has put the above said amount against six months by mistake.

Chandigarh, April 4
The craze for IPL is yet to become a hit among the city residents but the ongoing gully cricket has already made its mark. People are pouring in to watch their children playing cricket here.

Shiv Kumar, a resident Mauli Jagran, along with his wife and younger son reached Sector 48 to watch his elder son play his best shots during the match.

Shiv’s elder son Ramesh, who is playing his first-ever tournament with high spirits, wanted his parents to come and watch the match. “My mother does not know much about the game. But I still asked them to come here and enjoy the game,” said Ramesh. Shiv said, “It was really good to see him play. Many families are here to watch their children play cricket which really boosted their (children’s) confidence.”

The Chandigarh administration has sanctioned Rs 15 lakh to organise the event. The tournament has witnessed a total of 547 teams participating to win a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. The matches for girls’ category are scheduled to start after April 7 and the matches for handicap category will be organised later.

Chandigarh, April 4
The much awaited IPL (Indian Premier League) kicked off today after a grand opening ceremony last day.

The fifth edition of the cricket tourney, however, failed to fire its best shot.

Even the residents are showing less interest to the first match between the home team of Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors scheduled to be held at the PCA stadium on April 12.

During a visit to the ticket selling outlets, it was found that the claimed high attractive affair is still a damp-squib as there are only few takers of the tickets.

“Very few people are pouring in here (PCA outlet)...to buy the tickets. On the first day, there was some good response. But now people are hardly coming to buy the entry tickets,” said an employee at PCA ticket selling outlet.

Sources said a handful of tickets were sold in other outlets. An ticket outlet manager said, “People do to enquire about the tickets but hardly buy them. This is a regular feature; we hope the situation will soon change. We sell about 30 tickets everyday. But the last year’s number was more,” he added.

Chandigarh, April 4
The Chandigarh zone lifted the Western Air Command Inter-area Handball Championship after defeating Hindon Area in the three-day event that concluded at the Air Force Station here today.

A total of five teams participated in the championship which was played under league-cum-knock out basis.

In the final, the winning side defeated Hindon Area by 28-14. In total eight matches were played. Chandigarh zone won the trophy and Hindon Area secured the second place. The teams of Palam, Adampur and Bhatinda area secured third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Chandigarh, April 4
In the ongoing First International Dosti Cup Tournament for hearing impaired and special children, the Indian group defeated the Pakistan team by four wickets at Yadvindra Public school in Mohali today.

After elected to bat first, the Pakistan team scored a total of 142 runs before getting bowled out in 19.2 overs. For the visiting side, Balbul was the highest scorer after contributing 40 runs. In reply, the wining side achieved the target in the 19th over of the game.

Satish guided the team to victory after scoring best individual score of 47 runs.